Common At Home Treatments for Acid Reflux

When asking what can I do for my baby at home? There have been many suggestions and many of them for example are: Positioning the baby in a more upright position while feeding will help because it takes the pressure off of the diaphragm and relieve some pressure on the esophageal hiatal hernia, If and when your baby is in a car seat the concern is more of a slouching position. Babies normally have large distended abdomens and this with intestinal bloating from colic can push the lower abdominal contents further up into the esophageal hiatus or the hole where the esophagus goes into the abdomen so keeping your babies back straight to prevent slouching will help ease the symptoms not fix the problems.

Sleeping positions do make a difference just like they do for adults. Again laying fIat will increase the pressure on the abdomen and this makes the symptoms worse. There has been a lot of discussion on prone verses supine sleeping or back and stomach sleeping.

My experience with lying flat on the back makes it worse and if the abdomen is enlarged and distended then lying on the stomach also makes it worse. There is still a lot of discussion and theories about stomach sleeping and SIDS; however I have not seen much research to prove that back sleeping will prevent SIDS because research still cannot confirm the cause of SIDS. What research I have found indicates the education of back sleeping has substantially reduced the number of cases of SIDS but they still don’t know what causes SIDS for sure. Carrying your baby in an upright position such as in a carrying wrap will most certainly reduce the symptoms of acid reflux because the baby is in an upright position. Staying in an upright position keeps much of the pressure from the intestinal gas from pushing up on the diaphragm. This only makes good sense, however how long can the mother keep carrying her baby around without the mother becoming exhausted or begin having musculoskeletal complaints of back pain, herniated disc, sciatic sensitivity, sacro-iliac joint sprains and increased cervical or neck problems.

Avoiding tight clothing only makes good sense because any way you can reduce pressure on the lower abdomen will help. When discussing the effects of food on acid reflux the connection to colic is great. Most opinions I have seen is that the doctors feel there is probably an allergic reaction of the mother to certain food such as milk. My experience does not agree. Very seldom have I found that milk or dairy products will aggravate a colic problem and also aggravate acid reflux. My experience has been foods that will weaken the ilio-cecal valve muscle will then in turn cause more gas buildup in the baby and then increase the spitting up and if the baby has an esophageal hiatal hernia then this too will be aggravated by the increase of abdominal gas.

The foods I find that will make the condition worse is high protein foods like beef and pork, nuts, beans, broccoli, celery, lettuce, cauliflower, green peppers, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, cucumbers, spices, and foods like onions and garlic. I have also found that fruits will also cause excessive gas in the baby and aggravate the acid reflux. Carbonated drinks, coffee and tea also aggravate the increased gas formation to the baby’s abdomen. A diet that is very balanced seems to really help. How long does a mother have to watch her diet? The answer is until the ilio-cecal valve between the large intestine and the small intestine will become strong. How does this occur? Most doctors will tell you until about three months of the baby’s age. If the leaky valve can be strengthened early it can be eliminated very quickly.

Thickening of the food may help because it will cut down on increased volume of milk in the stomach because it’s not about how much milk is in the stomach that makes the baby hungry. It’s about the level of blood sugar. Appetite is increased when the blood sugar goes down and it decreased as the blood sugar goes up. If you can get the blood sugar up and the volume of food down then less food in the stomach will cause less bloating and pressure on the hiatal hernia and symptoms will reduce. However the problem still remains and until we reduce the esophageal hiatal hernia we will not reduce the spit up.

Burping a baby is to reduce the air in the stomach, not the intestines. Will it help to reduce some of the air in the stomach that the baby will get because of sucking? Yes, however generally it is not necessary to do this but if there is the presence of a hiatal hernia then any pressure in the stomach or the intestine will push against the diaphragm and this will cause less spit up. The use of a pacifier is very helpful many times because when the baby is sucking it is causing the intestine to move and this often times eliminate some pressure. Sometimes it is thought that increased saliva helps however I said many times that if the hernia is, pushing against the diaphragm and it is squeezing on the esophagus that many times saliva wont even go down.